When Sam Roggeveen invited me to contribute an article to the Lowy Institute’s new digital magazine in late 2007, I had no idea that it would be the first step in a long and mutually profitable association. The Interpreter soon established itself as a consistently timely, thoughtful and innovative forum for the discussion of a wide range of subjects covering domestic and international politics and economics, foreign policy issues and developments in the broader security sphere. It was not long before it had acquired a global audience and was influencing senior policymakers, both in Australia and abroad. It was thus an ideal outlet for my research and comments on contemporary Myanmar.